A North Shuswap resident’s concern over the need for a more localized road rescue service touches on work being done at the Columbia Shuswap Regional District.
In a letter to the regional district, Celista’s Jake Ootes pointed out a road rescue service is “sorely lacking” for the North Shuswap, where the service is currently provided by Chase Fire Rescue. Ootes said this can result in wait times of well over an hour, depending on where in the North Shuswap they’re having to respond.
Ootes noted the service can be provided through fire departments; however, the North Shuswap’s fire departments, “while they may be called out to such accidents, are restricted to serve as control only – no other assistance is allowed.”
“This is a frustration to our many highly qualified volunteer fire fighters – young, capable, and anxious to be of greater service to our community,” said Oootes. “Road rescue service providers maintain an ongoing competency program that includes safety and training techniques for accessing people who may be trapped in a vehicle or machinery, on the road or down an embankment, and hazardous material awareness. Our fire departments already have most of the equipment on hand to provide such service.”
Ootes said he has spoken with local fire chiefs who’ve indicated there is “serious interest by our fire departments to undertake Road Rescue Service.”
Ootes concerns are shared by Derek Sutherland, the CSRD’s community and protective services general manager. He raised them in a report to CSRD directors at the January 2023 Electoral Area Directors (EAD) meeting. At the meeting, Sutherland said there were firefighters in the North Shuswap (Electoral Area F) and Falkland (Electoral Area D) willing to fill the need for emergency road rescue services being provided by fire departments outside the regional district.
“Portions of Electoral Area D are serviced by Vernon Fire and Electoral Areas F and G are primarily serviced by Chase Fire,” wrote Sutherland in his report. “These areas are identified as gaps because of larger-than-adequate response times.”
The EAD recommended to the CSRD board that up to $25,000 from the Rural Feasibility Study Fund be used for a feasibility study, investigating costs and governance provisions related to the establishment of road rescue services. The board approved funding for the study and for a subsequent report, which Sutherland said is now complete and will be presented at May 2024 EAD meeting.
Sutherland explained a key issue is that road rescue within the regional district is a provincial responsibility. He said those currently providing the service in the CSRD are “doing absolutely the best they can with what they have.”
“They’re still quite far away from these areas, so there are some longer wait times for that kind of service,” said Sutherland. “So that’s problematic for the community; when they need that service they need it fairly quickly.”
Another issue is funding. Sutherland said the funding currently provided by the B.C. government for road rescue, $335 per hour for road rescue apparatus only.
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“Quite frankly, that’s just not enough to maintain the service and allow us to maintain training levels and put gas in the trucks, pay the members and reserve money for equipment replacement,” said Sutherland, noting fire departments are only paid for road rescue work outside their respective jurisdictions.
“When you get into a situation like what’s happening down in the southern end of the regional district, in Falkland, we have the City of Vernon Fire Department providing service in that area,” Sutherland continued. “Now they’re bringing out… a truckload of full-time firefighters… making a lot of money and potentially on overtime if it’s at the end of their shift. So Vernon would be operating at a loss. $335 barely covers the fuel.”
Sutherland said the province has been asked to reevaluate its funding model, and it is, “but to my knowledge they haven’t come up with a new model yet. We’re hoping that it’s going to be fairly quick though.”
Sutherland said if the province was to fund road rescue service appropriately, he didn’t think there would be any hesitation by the CSRD board to fill the existing gaps through the fire services.
“But the fact of the matter is the current funding model is inadequate.”
With the upcoming report presentation, Sutherland said the EAD will likely make a recommendation to the board.
